#WHO LET JEVIL DRIVE?!

[zarla-s]

[DELTARUNE CHAPTER 3+4 SPOILERS]

Thinking about why I like Tenna, he's fun, but he doesn't grab me like Spamton does, in spite of them both being OTT flashy weirdos who are sad and attention-starved. On the surface they act pretty similar, to the point where I thought of Tenna as Diet Spamton, but the more I think about it they actually have a lot of really big differences between them. They're almost opposites, actually. What I think it comes down to is their greater themes. Tenna, King, and Queen are all about abandonment/neglect. Spamton, in comparison, is all about failure.

Spamton is a persona non grata in Cyber City, no one ever talks about him and the Addisons refuse to if you try and confront them about it. He has a strange and quirky battle, but if you forget to follow up on him later, he's a footnote in the whole chapter. He's a tiny guy in a big world.

Tenna is the absolute ruler of TV Land and the entire reality of it bends to his whims. He's huge, bigger than life, everything revolves around him at all times. Everything has his face, everyone does what he wants under restrictive contracts even if they don't want to. Tenna IS TV World.

You meet Spamton at his lowest point. He's living in the garbage, no one will talk to him, he has no control or power over anything without manipulating them into giving it to him (usually unsuccessfully). A lot of his dialogue implies he's beaten by other people regularly. He's angry and frustrated and desperate, and he knows he needs a patsy to get out because he can't get out himself.

Tenna in comparison is living the high life. Almost everything is showy and glamorous (except the Z room, which is associated with Spamton). He IS the Big Shot Spamton used to be and wants to be again. He can, like Jevil, do anything.

Spamton wants to be BIG, partly for the attention and power but mostly because he wants to get OUT. He wants to LEAVE the Dark World and become real, not just an object in the shadows trapped by how Lightners perceive him. He wants to escape the fantasy world into reality, ascending into what he thinks is Heaven. He's the only boss that seems to want this, rather than validation from Lightners.

Tenna wants a past that's gone, where he felt like he glued a family together and everyone was happy watching him and being with him. He wants attention and validation and love from Lightners again, promises that he's still relevant and useful as an escape from reality. Tenna wants to stay in an eternal fantasy world and expand and enable it.

Spamton feels trapped by the voice on the phone and reaches out to Kris by saying he can't force them to do anything, that he can tell Kris is desperate for freedom just like he is. He asks Kris to do him favors to get him the body that he thinks will let him become real. He gives himself into their hands as the LoadedDisk because he can't do it himself (normally). Spamton treats and talks to Kris like a potential partner/customer to scam.

Tenna actually seems scared of Kris, saying that he did everything that they told him to. Kris was the one giving the orders, not Tenna. Tenna's desperate to bring Kris back to a time when their family was intact and they were happy and he was valuable and needed, and he tries to force Kris into more games to try and keep them there. Tenna treats Kris fearfully, like his boss or a sponsor he needs to please or he'll suffer the consequences.

Spamton started as a failure and needed outside support from the voice to become a success, which eventually exerted total control over his life, driving him right back into the dumpster. When he was about to share the secret of that "success" with Tenna, the voice scared him into running away, abandoning him.

Tenna was always successful. It seems like rather than a parabola of failure-success-failure, he's just in a steady decline. Tenna has complete control over his Dark World but it doesn't matter, he can't actually change reality in the Light World. Tenna is in the process of failing when we meet him - Spamton has already failed.

Spamton is obsessed with money. The absolute core of his being is scamming people and making money, it defines his existence. He will do literally anything for it.

Money doesn't even work in TV Land. Instead you get points that Tenna doles out (completely at his discretion) that are worthless outside of TV Land. Tenna gives away prizes and points as incentives to stay and pay attention to him. He wants attention more than anything else.

Spamton is a member of a group of Darkners, the Addisons, who all look very similar to each other with some small variations. He spent a lot of time with them as loverscoworkers. Another instance of being a little guy in a big group.

Tenna is one of a kind. There's no other being in TV Land anything like him. Nothing even comes close. He's completely unique.

Spamton doesn't want validation from Lightners. What he wants is the power to get out of the Dark World and become real. He has his own entirely self-focused goals that don't involve Lightners or the Dark World at all.

Tenna will do anything for validation from Lightners, they define his entire existence. Without them he feels purposeless. He's desperate to give Kris the world they want and for Kris to tell him he's doing a good job, essentially. In this, Tenna is very much like Queen and King. He begs you repeatedly to say you love him and to never leave him.

This is just funny to me but Spamton mentions Tenna rarely but Tenna talks about Spamton constantly lol. Spamton just lives rent-free in Tenna's head.

When you beat Spamton, Kris has a breakdown about it, presumably because they see a lot of similarities between their situations (unwilling puppets trapped by forces controlling them, usually coming from a phone) and how Spamton in the end couldn't escape his strings.

Kris on the other hand doesn't seem that upset about what happens to Tenna, even if he dies. Maybe Kris just didn't have a chance to, given the Knight jumps you almost immediately, but that kind of connection that Spamton and Kris have just isn't there with Kris and Tenna.

Spamton can understand the voice on the phone. Tenna, Blue Addison, and the Player cannot.

Tenna (and his death) are foretold in the prophecy. Spamton, so far, is not.

Television was a massive success and defined multiple generations, and, while diminished, still plays a massive part of the media landscape. Spam email has always been a nuisance no one likes and has a very low, if any, success rate, even though it's inescapable. Television platforms ads, Spamton IS an ad.

Spamton has connections to a variety of other Darkners, like Queen, Swatch, Jevil, and the Addisons. Tenna, being the complete center of his Dark World, really only has a connection to Spamton. (They do share a connection with Mike but that's a weird case.)

Tenna is very isolated in his world, with only his lackeys around him that he treats rather badly. Spamton in comparison is surrounded by other people constantly but all of them deliberately ignore him, isolating him in a different way.

Thematically, this matches their respective mediums. TV is a self-contained passive entertainment source that's primarily solitary, although it can be shared if others are nearby. The things you see on TV are tightly controlled and structured. The internet in comparison is a massive eternally expanding collaboration of people constantly interacting with each other - by its nature it's inescapably social and uncontrollable.

Spamton was always doomed to fail. In the end all his dreams are shattered and all he can do is give himself to you as an item to try and help you achieve yours. He can come out of the glasses on occasion but his life on his own as far as we know it is over. This tragedy (and presumably the sick irony of gaining control over Spamton as an item when all he wanted was freedom) is what leads to Kris's breakdown.

Tenna nearly dies but recovers (usually) and starts a new life with Mettaton, who appreciates and promises to care for him. When we leave him, Tenna is off to a brand new fresh start to a happier life. It's a hopeful and heartwarming conclusion to his arc.

Tenna is intact. He's lucid and coherent, he speaks clearly, he adds graphical and audio flourishes to his text with no issue. He worries about burn-in and being old, but none of that is present in his Dark World form. He's fine.

Spamton is broken. He glitches and falls apart, he can't speak clearly at all. His bracket words are like uncontrollable tics that obscure things against his will. At times it seems like he's being entirely taken over by other forces that speak through him.

There are a lot of things they have in common too of course. They both do like slapping their faces on everything, including their own branded products, haha. They also both want to be successful, in their own ways. They seemed to really like each other at one point and had a good time together! And despite the vast discrepancy in power between them, they're both very alone in their worlds. They both have abandonment issues, although Tenna's manifests as desperation and clinginess while Spamton's manifests as anger and bitterness. They are both in denial about it though lol.

The key thing that broke them up was the person on the phone scaring Spamton into abandoning Tenna right before he was going to tell him the secret of his "success". It seems rather deliberate on the voice's part... I wonder why they did that? I wonder if Tenna knowing the "secret" would have changed the prophecy...

[burningcheese-merchant]

No, Merchant, feel free to complain to your hearts content. I'm certainly much meaner to ugly blue alastoroncelerbillcipherspamton from temu and every last inch of his undeserved popularity. I seethe because as an Ovenbreak player of SEVEN YEARS, none of my faves get remembered in a tweet, let alone merchandise. The dragons, who all took over five years to collectively come out, got a pin set and devsis wiped their asses with them then moved on. I waited over a YEAR for another sugar nova odyssey update to come out because xylitol nova and astronaut are my favorite cookies ever and I'm still fucking waiting 🫠 meanwhile the beasts are getting shat out every 3 months with the most rushed nonsensical recycled plotlines held together with scotch tape because making profit is what really matters here, not competent storytelling. I wouldn't even be this furious if the beasts got equal attention and spotlight but we both know that's not true hahaha 😬 they love to shove their (really badly designed) golden cow in our faces because Smilk was lab engineered to get sexyman tumblr girlies screaming their heads off while not even being 1/4th the interesting character they want you desperately think he is. JUSTICE for burning spice, mystic flour, and everyone else who will get done dirty for this boring walmart Jevil 😒

Oh my gosh 🤣🤣🤣 tell us how you REALLY feel, Anon, let it all out. It's not healthy to bottle up your emotions like that (you might want to stay anonymous though, I don't think either of us want an angry mob at your doorstep lol)

I'm anticipating a ramble (as I am wont to do) so under the cut it goes

Gonna start by saying I DO like Shadow Milk. I really do. It took me a little while for him to grow on me when he first appeared, admittedly (ESPECIALLY his voice...), but I am genuinely fond of the little blue jester man. But he's certainly not my favorite, far from it. That title belongs to Burning Spice and Burning Spice alone lol. The only reason I ever turned the English audio back on (I usually play the game in Japanese, I love hearing my fave anime characters speak lol) was so I could hear that gorgeous baritone of his... Burning Spice is everything to me. I love his design, I love his voice, I love his dialogue, I love his personality, I love him soooooo much. He's my babygirl. If Silent Salt turns out anything like the character I've constructed inside of my head, then he will share the #1 spot with Spice. I'll go ahead and say that right away

I'm upset because, like you said, it feels like he got majorly shafted while Shadow Milk gets all the praise and attention. Mystic Flour as well, poor girl, but I'm focusing on Spice just to drive the point home a bit better. He didn't even get a fucking countdown. What was his little merch thing? That weird ass candle (I thought it was a vase at first lol) and that's it. Furthermore, his story feels the least developed. There was and is SO MUCH that could have been said about him as a person as well as his dynamic/connection with Golden Cheese, that wasn't for whatever reason. Episodes 5 and 6 feel like they're missing something (and you feel what the "something" is in that brief flashback to Spice's past. There's more to what became of him than "I was bored", there HAS to be. Boredom is a symptom, not the cause. I maintain that this theory of mine has merit, and it would've been nice if they dove deeper into it than they did), you know? And I hate it. I hate that Spice is basically the forgotten middle child of the Beasts while Shadow Milk gets all the glory. Seriously, for Shadow Milk:

They changed their YT avatar to him for a while (it has ALWAYS been Gingerbrave, they never changed it once to anyone else all these years). iirc they did this on Twitter too

They dedicate an HOUR LONG commentary video to episode 7 and Shadow Milk (arguably fair, because it WAS the 4th anniversary. But even so. Did they do this for any other Beast? Any other episode? Any other anniversary?)

They give him a costume (a legendary one, at that) plus a set with his Ancient. NO OTHER Beast/Ancient pair has that, and I struggle to imagine they ever will. Do you understand what I would do to have a BS/GC costume set? DO YOU???

They make an exclusive, limited edition plushie (that caused a massive shitstorm iirc, justice for everyone that got fucked over during that and fuck scalpers)

They make a whole ass pop-up store event themed entirely around Shadow Milk and episodes 7 and 8

Why? Because he's the fan favorite lol. He's long since been the golden child of this community, and now we know he's Devsisters' golden child, too. (And they're desperate for money because they're drowning in debt. That's also probably why they released Shadow Milk on the 3rd anniversary: to drum up interest on a milestone anniversary by bringing in a beloved character. Thematically/narratively, Shadow Milk should've been released last. But that's just my opinion.)

Again, I really do like Shadow Milk. I call him "Walmart Bill Cipher" affectionately (and because he genuinely does remind me of Bill. In fact, I think Bill might've inspired SM to some degree). But it's unfortunate that other characters, the other Beasts especially, are pushed aside and ignored just so Shadow Milk can hog all the spotlight. It is with a very intense grimace that I agree that Shadow Milk is a Tumble sexyman. He fits the stereotype to a T. It would serve us all well to accept that truth. He even got added to the Tumblr sexyman wiki before it turned to flour lol. Burning Spice is... NOT a Tumblr sexyman. He is a regular old hunk. Tumblr was never in the business of liking big, beefy hunks, at least not the Tumblr I knew 10 years ago lol.

I'm also, to reference it again, just really disappointed that so little was and is done to explore the other Beast/Ancient pairs - and the fandom is guilty of this, too (not to knock the PV/SM anaylses at all! They're all fantastic and I genuinely do understand and love the deep, complex connection between them!). To go back to BS and GC, because they're my lifeblood (not just for shipping reasons I swear)... it's particularly egregious to me that THEIR dynamic wasn't given the attention and detail it deserves. They are LIFE AND DEATH, the very foundation of the world itself, things I (personally) consider significantly more important than truth and deceit because it is from life and death that all else springs forth. Truth and deceit are things you actively look for; life (abundance) and death (destruction) are just there, everywhere you look, even within yourself. You can close your eyes, ears, heart to the truth and you can learn to shun, decipher, defend against deceit; there is no escape from life nor death. None whatsoever. And so much can be done with that. So much can be done with them. Burning Spice and Golden Cheese need each other in the exact same way that Shadow Milk and Pure Vanilla need each other. They parallel each other quite a bit, too. They're so similar and so different. They could have and SHOULD HAVE had so much to say to and about each other, like what Shadow Milk and Pure Vanilla have. But that didn't happen. Didn't happen with Dark Cacao and Mystic Flour, either. All of that love and care and philosophical exploration goes to the clown and the Jesus Christ allegory. Which is FINE, I'm not saying to leave those two hanging, just... show some of that love to the beefcake and the bird, too. And Korean Batman (Cacao reminds me of Batman, I'm sorry 🤣) and Ms. Angel of Death, too. Please, man. Truth and Deceit aren't the only dichotomy that matters and is worthy of thought and discussion

(and oh my God, dude. The Ovenbreak shit. I've been playing for as long as you, and that shit is diabolical at this point. We get ONE dragon update a year, and they always leave us on the most painful cliffhanger of all time each time. (And this last one... I have many issues, but the most glaring one of all: WHERE THE FUCK IS FIRE SPIRIT??? WHY ISN'T HE IN THE STORY??? HE IS INTRINSICALLY LINKED TO PITAYA DRAGON! THEY HAVE AN UNBREAKABLE BOND BECAUSE OF THEIR DEAL THAT GRANTED HIM SOME OF PITAYA'S POWER AND SAVED HIS LIFE! HE SHOULD BE AN INTEGRAL PART OF THIS ARC! HE SHOULD BE AT THE FOREFRONT! IF PITAYA GETS HURT, HE GETS HURT! FIRE SPIRIT'S WELL-BEING IS DIRECTLY TIED TO PITAYA'S AND THE DRAGON'S VALLEY AND BOTH ARE IN SERIOUS JEOPARDY!!! Oh God I can scream about this for so long. I have a similar issue with the Red Dragon arc in CRK, WHY WASN'T FIRE SPIRIT THERE?) I LOVE the dragons, I love their relationship with each other, I love the conflict between them, even the unique bonds/quarrels between specific ones! And their storyline is picked up and dropped over and over again, left to collect dust until they feel like continuing the story. Hell, remember Gingerbrave and co.'s quest to find where that wizard compass is pointing, and to find a place for them to build a peaceful life away from the Witches? Me neither lol. Sea Fairy's great sacrifice with Sugarteara and the cursed pearl? (SF was done SO dirty in Kingdom, she's an actual character in OB and in CRK all she cares about is Moonlight, to the point that she lets an entire civilization fall to ruin because she refuses to do her fucking job) The Xylitol gang... Well, as of writing this, that's the next update... Which will give us another legendary cookie, hardly 3 months after Dreamweaver lol. Fuck Stevia Nova, I already don't give a damn. Give me more Xylitol Nova and Astronaut and that's it

I have a lot more to say (especially about BS and GC, God I could talk about them FOREVER, they're so interesting to me), but I think I've rambled enough lol. All the love for Shadow Milk, truly, but all the love and justice for Burning Spice and the other Beasts and every other character that gets ignored, too

[krispdreemurr]

What do you think the final prophecy/story's end even is?

We know that it made Seam utterly nihilistic about the future, we know it drove jevil insane, we aren't quite sure how much of the prophecy spamton knew but I would not be suprised if it was another source of turmoil for him aswell.

Ralsei is completely distraught by it (which lets face it, he wouldn't be if only he/other darkners got hurt by it). Susie is distraught but also clearly scared in a way I don't think she would be if she was the only one hurt by it.

Everyone who witnesses it seems to be driven into either hopelessness or apathy towards the future (except susie who holds onto hope through sheer force of will)

It seems that even if this 'sacrifice' saves both the dark and light world (which I'm not sure it will) it will be cost both worlds dearly

to some degree i think Spamton and Jevil aren't fully illustrative, especially as they're both non-hero (and optional!) Darkners; the thing to drive them mad could be as simple as the prophecy Existing, constraining them on a single route, and neither having even Relevance along it.

but yeah whatever it is I think it's devastating. I don't know what exactly it is yet, but I do suspect Kris is a little doomed

[wonderfull-star]

I decided to replay the Deltarune after 3 years and I noticed a lot of interesting details.

There are a LOT of interesting details that I didn’t know about. Well, or which I forgot about.

Let me start with the fact that I decided to play the 2nd chapter from the game file of the 1st chapter. And guess what? I didn't regret it at all. I kept all the things, armor and weapons from the previous part. And most importantly, now I have two shadow crystals (from defeating Jevil and Spamton, of course). Seam told me where Jevil and Spamton got these crystals from. (I can even say we have become great friends now) After that, one thing became interesting to me. What if it was the discovery of these shadow crystals that drove them crazy? What if Seam is not who he seems at all, and if we give him all these crystals and collect them all together, then a new secret boss will appear - W.D.Gaster...? Yes, I believe that all these shadow crystals are parts of Gaster. And if we collect all of them then we will get Gaster as the final secret boss. Perhaps in this way we can “bring him back to the real world.” Who knows… Now I'm wondering if Sans and Papyrus will have anything to do with this?

Well. It just becomes suspicious that Seam knows about all the secret bosses. And why did he need the shadow crystals anyway? I don't think that finding all these crystals from SECRET bosses will somehow affect the main plot, right? I believe that since Seam knows about Jevil, Spamton and other future secret bosses, then he probably knows about the “mystery man”. What do you think of it?

He’s suspicious…

So how did the shadow crystals drive Jevil and Spamton crazy? I think that over time they began to hear voices coming from there that completely changed their view of the world. Jevil began to see the world as a game, and Spamton literally felt like a puppet who was trying with all his might to get rid of the strings and finally become free. Moreover, Jevil and Spamton are not even villains at all. They didn't have particularly evil intentions. The game, on the contrary, tried to show their resemblance to Kris.

[a-chaotically-small-lunta]

Alright so AU huh? Mmh well if you know me you know that I love Deltarune. Guess what AU the deltarune fan base hasn’t made yet, at least to my knowledge. The Borrower AU

SO, guess it’s my job huh? Alright, here it is the Borrower AU for Deltarune aka

Minirune

So the basis of this AU is quoted simple, the darkners and the dark worlds are the borrowers and the world of borrowers within the walls. Darkners are tiny about borrower size (around 4 inches on average but with such size variations it can vary haha!) anyway, the darkners used to help the giant Lightners in the light but one day something happened, and the darkners didn’t dare go back out to the light. Many believe the Lightners left them and Chose to ignore the darkners, others believe the Lightners did something to make darkners want to hide. Who knows the real reason.

The dark worlds mostly remain the same, being in the same buildings as they were in game, the only difference is that they are living in the walls, floors, and ceilings. Here’s the cool bit, the darkners still have their powers but they have one extra one, they can turn into the object that represents them. At least to a certain degree. For example Lancer would turn into his card, the Queen (while yes is probably the computer) would be able to shift into a microchip or even a small mainframe or flash drive. I haven’t really decided on that yet haha.

Anyway, the story would be quite similar with kris and susie discovering this hidden world and exploring it. How? Well of course they get shrunk! They have to travel through the dark world to find the fountain that shrunk them and close it in order to get back to their normal size. However even after the fountain is closed the darkners stay darkners, they just lose the ability to hide in plain sight. So susie and kris can let the darkners decide to stay in their current homes or come with them to a new home where they don’t have to worry about being seen by other Lightners.

Now what about our favorite two lads? I’m talking Jevil and Spamton of course? What makes them, them in this AU? Simple really, they talk to a lightner. They learn and got help from a lightner or the knight (since I’m still not 100% sure the knight is a lightner but eh) Both had contact with a lightner and got different things from them. Jevil learned more about how small he really is and how little of an effect he would have on the larger world around him, to which he responds that since his actions wouldn’t matter, that means he can do anything. He also plays with this lightner a lot and this made the kings upset because his interactions with the lightner was putting everyone in danger. So they locked him up. Meanwhile spamton meets mike (who I’m assuming is another darkner but I’m not 100% sure) and mike introduces him to a lightner who supplies him with all these items and trinkets. He becomes well known as one of the best borrowers in the walls, until the lightner and mike just disappear one day. Then everything goes downhill. He is forced to go borrowering after not actually doing it for awhile and often trips up. Lucky there is a robotic action figure hidden away somewhere that might help him escape this little nightmare he’s found himself in.

Anyway those are just some thoughts of mine about this lil AU haha. Also I tried to design some borrower versions of the lads, might redesign them but I honestly like how they look. I really like Jevil’s big bells lol.

If you have any thoughts, ideas, or even questions about this AU, let me know! I’d love to hear/answer them!

Also for anyone who wants to be a little self indulgent, imagine finding your favorite darkner as a borrower/tiny. Just a little version of them. Maybe they were taking something from you, or perhaps they got stuck and now need you help. Either way, enjoy the daydreams heehehhehehe!

[petra-creat0r]

Alright! CK time!

I don't have all that much art to show for him since I've yet to make an updated ref for him, but I can still talk about the boy!

I think looks wise, he's stayed most the same. I think I've just made him a little more skeletal? Like, he's still got the goatish mammalian features, but he's also got more bone. I also think he's lost his ears. They were getting in the way. Also gave him more digigrade legs.

All and all, I think now he looks more like King from TOH more now than ever.

Let see what else I've got for the boy...

CK is very hyper and energetic. Pretty much a bouncing ball of energy. Along with Chicago, they form my favorite trope, Autism and ADHD besties.

His energy level ironically contrasts the rest of his family, as most the rest of the Dreemurr-Font family are introverts. CK is said to be more similar to his Uncle Papyrus and his kids (excluding Chicago.)

Also like Papyrus, CK speaks in a capslocked font, Comic Kings. Where he gets his name. Because of this, CK has a naturally loud voice and it sounds like he's always yelling.

Despite all these similarities to Papyrus, CK is still definitely Sans's kid. At least as far his love of puns and pranks have to say.

You know UnderSwap Sans? Yeah that's pretty much CK's personality. To the point CK even laughs like the swapped version of his dans. (Also anyone who thinks of Blueberry Sans can leave.)

Much like Chicago is the fankid I've matched to Spamton, CK gets Jevil as a little chaos companion.

I sorta mentioned it before in a jokey sorta manner before but CK does have ADHD and often finds himself struggling in school. He was able to get diagnosed pretty early since Toriel's a teacher and noticed CK struggling and getting distracted in class. Now every Thursday, he has his own study hour after school in his mom's class room as Tori grades papers before driving him home.

Because of this (and his penchant for pranks), CK is what most teachers call a "problem child". After meeting Jevil, the chaotic jester does not help the boy's reputation in this regard.

All in all however, CK is a good kid who doesn't actually want to hurt anyone. His primary trait is kindness and his main magic (asides from fire magic) is healing magic. He just thinks (that what he sees as) harmless pranks and jokes are funny.

I'm still sorting this part out but I'm debating if CK was born with help from a surrogate? Mostly been toying with the idea because of boss monster aging stuff I've been sorting out.

As CK grows up, he does end up chilling out a bit. Still up to pranks and mischief but the burn out hits him in high-school.

CK's full name is just Comic Kings Dreemurr-Font, but Sans and CK keep making jokes about what CK stands for other than Comic Kings.

I think that's pretty much all I've got as far as it comes to CK atm. Feel free to send me asks about him or Sariel. (Or really any of my fankids)

[pianpianmp3]

I saw this post, went to reblog it because I have THOUGHTS on this, and then realized that I’d already reblogged it with a promise to share my thoughts later. I'm apperently very consistant. Anyway, it's not quite 3k words and it goes on a few tangents, but here's an essay:

Kris is directly under the player’s control. 

Noelle is vulnerable to the player’s control. 

Ralsei caters to the player. 

Susie? Susie does whatever the heck she wants. 

Susie can and will completely ignore the player. 

Obviously, she refuses to listen to the player’s commands through most of Chapter 1. When you “check in on what Susie’s doing” in the C1 jail and C2 Noelle rescue cutscenes, you can make choices and pick dialogue options just like you can with Kris. However, while it’s heavily implied (basically canon) that Susie can HEAR the player, she doesn’t hesitate to completely ignore them. 

If you try to equip Susie with an item she doesn’t like (like the white ribbon), she refuses to accept it. If you try to downgrade her armor by giving her something less defensive than what she’s currently wearing, she’ll refuse to take it off. 

Susie is a twist on the classic RPG party member, because she DOESN’T simply let someone else make all the decisions for her. If she doesn’t agree with something, she won’t do it. When she joins the party, she does so conditionally, saying “If you tell me what to do… I’ll listen to you… but, y’know, don’t tell me anything STUPID, Or I’ll go back to smashing heads, alright!?” It’s also pretty important that Susie listens to (who she believes to be) Kris, because she trusts them. She has no clue that the player exists, and would no double refuse to listen to them if she did. 

Sometimes you do get the illusion of choice when talking to Susie, only to find that, no, she’s gonna do what she wants regardless of what you decide.

Where most characters are REACTIVE, Susie is PROACTIVE. Ralsei does what the player wants. Noelle does what everyone else wants. Berdly does what Queen wants. Spamton is a puppet to an unknown force, and Jevil only fights you if you seek him out. Even the main antagonists, King and Queen, are following someone else (the Knight)’s plan. 

From the beginning, Susie drives the plot of Chapter 1. 

When Kris is walking too slow for her, Susie runs off and ditches them. She’s the first person to set off to the dark fountain. She starts fights. She joins Lancer. She rejoins the party, taking Lancer with her. She breaks out of the castle jail. She’s the first person to threaten King, and the last person to put her weapon away when he “surrenders.” Kris and Ralsei spend the WHOLE middle portion of the chapter, from Castle Town to Card Castle, reacting and responding to what Susie (and Lancer) does. 

I’m in the process of replaying Chapter 2, so I don’t remember everything, but this trend of Susie’s actions driving the plot continues. Susie is the one who chooses, even if the player protests, to go to the library Dark World. She’s the first person to threaten Queen and yell at her to let Noelle go. When Ralsei asks Kris to choose who they want to travel with, Susie decides that SHE’S calling the shots and chooses, rather aggressively, to go with Ralsei. She’s the one to actually go rescue Noelle. 

Susie doesn’t stand by and wait for Kris/the player to make decisions. She has the idea to throw Raisei at the K. Round in the Card Castle. In chapter 2, she questions why Kris gets to be the only one to ACT, and figures out how to do it herself. When you then command her to ACT, you don’t pick HOW she acts like you do with Kris, SHE chooses what her S-Action is. (It’s the same for Ralsei, but he would never have done something like that on his own, had Susie not dragged him kicking and screaming into agency.)

Who drives the plot of Deltarune? The player makes decisions. The Knight (presumably it’s the Knight) drives the antagonists’ actions. Kris shapes the plot in small and subtle ways until the end of Chapter 2, where they directly and drastically take action. But the one other person who moves the plot forward is Susie. Considering Kris spends most of these chapters getting puppeteered, the visible, present choices are made by either the player or Susie. 

….Wait, actually, Kris does make one OTHER direct action, and it’s to protect Susie from King. This is absolutely their choice, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they make that choice because of Susie.

Susie and Kris’ friendship is going to be a major, driving force in Deltarune. Susie is the anti-player in that she repeatedly checks in on Kris and considers what they want.

…she’s also the anti-Ralsei in that way, and in that she forges ahead instead of following a script. She’s the opposite of Noelle in terms of how susceptible they are to the player’s influence, and she’s the opposite of Berdly in that she refuses to change herself to please others. Susie—her role in the story and her relationships with other characters—is absolutely FASCINATING! 

Alright, for the end of this post I’m going to say something completely insane and tinfoil hat, just for fun. Susie’s theme is played by electric guitar. Your Power is also played by the electric guitar. I’m pretty sure these are the ONLY two themes played on an electric guitar, with the exception of I’m Very Bad which plays while Lancer is imitating Susie. The “You” in Your Power could refer to Kris OR the player. Coincidence? Probably. But if we ever DO get an epic battle track that features Susie and Your Power on electric guitar then you know what? I called it.

Has someone already written a 3k analysis of how Susie seems to be the complete antithesis of the player? Because I really want to talk about it but I couldn't find the right words! Like, I'm not even sure what antithesis means.

[indiemedley]

So, I was thinking a lot about theoretical Deltaswap swaps and then I got to thinking about the Chapter 2 bois, naturally. Now, what most default to for the swaps are like Spamton swapping with the likes of Queen, Swatch, or Jevil. But, I had a new idea.

What if it was every Addison?

And thus, I got to thinking. And what resulted from this line of thinking was a concept of its own. Spamton was still the failure of a salesman he’s always been, but his associates? Now, THEY had talent. Talent enough to draw the attention of a certain individual. One by one, their phones lit up, and they were tasked with carrying out a few chores for a select individual. Spamton was left even further in the dust, well, until the caller pulled out of investing.

Suddenly it would seem as if the other Addisons began to lose their touch, and each and every one of them went out of business without the aid of their new benefactor. They had grown dependent on it, and lost all their latent skills. And like that, Spamton suddenly had no competition anymore, and he was left the only salesman left in Cyber City. Needless to say this wasn’t entirely for the best, as he had to do a lot of extra work to make up for all the missing Addisons.

Despite how they treated him, Spamton still missed them, even going as far as to put up missing posters for them. All the while, trying his best to run every business they left behind. He became stressed, overworked, tired. But he never lost enthusiasm. After all, he was finally a big shot!

But what of the Addisons?

In their destitution and bankruptcy, they had all taken refuge in an alleyway down the street, creating a shoddy little makeshift bazaar near a dumpster they tried to treat like a hotel, devolving into playing make believe to feel like they were still in touch with their sales, swapping who was the seller and who was the buyer. This manic sort of frenzied selling tended to drive off any ACTUAL customers.

When they finally come face to face with the player for the first time, they FINALLY have a customer again after so long, and they won’t this one go. They block off the exit and start to get more and more frenzied trying to get sales out of the player. However, they get a little too violent in their methods. They fight in sync, like a well oiled machine, until finally talked down. They concede and let the player pass through, just as long as they promise to come back and make a sale.

Of course, curiosity killed the cat, and the Addisons are not alone for too long. They manically try to convey to the player about a special item in the basement of the nearby castle, offering to sell a key to said basement. However, they weren’t able to get their hands on a key, so, they instead just sell various makeshift burglary kits to help break in.

And now, we come face to face with the main course of this extravagant swap.

Addison NEO.

After cramming far too many people into a disc and uploading them into one body, the player is met with a horrid hydra amalgamation that stands far larger than the classic Spamton NEO. The resulting abomination is a mess of arms, legs, and wings, seemingly welded together into a mangled beast suspended by a tangled mess of wires with a hideous warped series of arms attached at the back, curving upwards over the beast’s head, culminating in a blaster tipped scorpion’s tail. At its helm are several long necks sprouting from one base, each ending in another horrid Addison head.The beast blocks the path forward, completely barricading the way out with just its sheer size. The Addisons attempt to move, before realizing they were not all given their own individual shots. They start to focus on the player, stating how they feel betrayed, and how their body can make up for it, or at least start to.

The beast shambles forwards, crushing the tracks under where it walks. The other two in the party strike it from behind, causing the mess of wires to lurch the beast upwards, clinging to the ceiling with its various claws and stylish boots. Before the party can escape, however, the coasters roll through, getting everyone their own personal escape vehicle as the enraged Addison NEO descends from the ceiling and begins its rapid manic sprint towards the party, becoming a race for their lives. Addison NEO felt betrayed, and it intends to return the favor.

As it follows closely behind, each head of this mechanical hydra takes its own part in this act of vitriol, with each Addison head having a different series of elemental attacks to use at its disposal to wipe the party out, each head’s color corresponding to the elemental attacks that head wields. Yet the body can also attack with various acts of horror that causes the body to shift and warp in unnatural ways. The beast is felled through pacifism when the party manages to tangle the beast further, preventing its movement entirely.

With immobility taking the wheel, the Addisons slowly begin to come to terms with their failure, and mistreatment of their only other friend. The mechanical monster shuts down, and the party is left to wonder, what would this thing have done if it left the confines of the basement?

Anyway I thought this idea was cool, if people like it, I might elaborate on more swaps and/or more about Spamton and Addison NEO

[stainedglassthreads]

Musings on Kris’ relationship with the Player, and why neither needs to be the villain. 

Also I don’t think that Kris is evil, but I don’t think the Player is evil either. And I don’t think Kris’ relationship with us is as simple as JUST hating us. 

Yes, we can choose to do some truly shitty things. Throwing away Ralsei’s manually repeatedly for one example, the Snowgrave route for a far more shitty example. And I’m really uncomfortable with the implications of some theories that we must keep Kris’ darker impulses ‘in check’ by removing their capability for choice. And yes, I agree that sometimes, Kris absolutely does resent us-- most notably, when we prevent them from playing piano or when we make them drop the Ball of Junk. 

But they seem to really love Susie, and their adventures in the Dark World, and care for Lancer and Roulxs. Through their actions and descriptions in Chapter 2, it has been observed they seem to love Susie most, out of the Darkners and their childhood friend Noelle. Likewise, Kris will feel bitter if you drop the Ball of Junk(implied to be their Dark World inventory), and fumble to grab Lancer and Roulxs if you drop them in the Light World. So there exist things from their adventures as our vessel that they enjoy. And like it or not, with our assistance is how they made these friendships and encountered these people. 

Also... there’s the fact that they do rip the Soul out, displaying they clearly have a method of rejecting us, but keep shoving it back in. 

Why do they do that? With how jerky and stiff their movements are without a soul, I’ve seen it theorized that they may be in great pain or even dying without one. Spamton’s final fate... may support this. But it might also just be... we facilitate their adventures. We’re the one who gives them the right choices, to make Susie and the Darkners love them. To help them figure out how to Spare Darkners. To guide them through the Dark Worlds. As fun as the Dark Worlds are, they can include some really scary situations, like fighting King Spades, Jevil, and Spamton NEO, and would a normal teen with no battle experience really be able to keep a level head and command their friends to win without a bit of supernatural assistance? 

But there’s another thing I keep thinking about, since writing my last post. 

There’s a kind of freedom in helplessness too, isn’t there? 

If it wasn’t your choice, then it also isn’t your responsibility. There’s nothing more you could’ve done. Kris seems to be going through a stressful time in their life with their parents divorced, brother gone, and some classmates regarding them as weak, weird, or cowardly. Wouldn’t it be easier to just... let someone else take the wheel? Someone who’s friendly and personable, and calm and smart, and above all determined to get the best possible ending. 

Yes. You, as the Player, are capable of doing some truly fucked up things in this game. But saying the player is ‘just evil’ is to surrender the choice to do better. To surrender your choice to do better. In Undertale, did you just sit back and watch Frisk grab the controls from you as they went sparing monsters, like an 8bit movie? Or were your choices an active, driving force in helping the monsters reach the surface? 

I think it’d be interesting if Kris wasn’t perfect. if they were selfish, and manipulative, and reckless, and made mistakes in their quest for an adventure and friends. So many mistakes. If maybe their friends got angry at them. And at the very end... they finally took responsibility for their actions, and took initiative in trying to make amends and become a real Hero of Legend. Maybe communicating openly and working with us, instead of ripping their heart out whenever they wanted to do something on their own. 

I think it’d add an interesting layer to the discussion on choices, consequences, and responsibility Undertale and Deltarune present. 

[ramblinseahorsey]

hi! who are your favorite Deltarune characters?

Ahhhhh that's hard! I haven't played chap 2 yet, cause my attention span flew south for the winter, so I don't really know the chap 2 background characters yet to name any. My favorite background character of 1 would probably be that huge bird, I really like how they look, and tbh they surprised me! Oh! Tied with Clover! She's so cute and such a good design!

Overall, I'm pretty predictable. I love basically all Deltarune characters to an extent, the annoying doge just makes such interestin lil dudes. My favorites overall, personality and design, would be the king, Jevil, Spamton, and Susie. Design wise, Seam, Swatch, and Lancer. Actually, Lancer would be a fav too, he's hilarious, and such a darlin. Very brave, and very heroic for a bad guy, hehe. I'll probably love Seam even more when more chapters give more dialogue from them, and maybe Swatch will catch my interest more once I play chap 2.

Susie is just all the best tropes, and done really well. Masculine girl who isn't written as her masculinity being her only personality, lonely bully who just wanted friends all along, loyal to the very end. She's funny, she's coolness incarnate, she's emotionally vulnerable.

I also just love how high her friends tea fuels her, she may tease and bug Ralsei a lot, but like most things, she cares a lot more than she's care to admit, and it's just so sweet. The other characters have vastly different tea numbers because of who they're comfortable around, but!! They all fuel her so much with the power of friendship! Susie just!!! Loves them all so much!!! Don't tell her I called her out on this, but not so secretly, she's the biggest sap of the team!

Jevil, of course!!!!!! JESTERS, BABEYYYY. Mysterious, powerful, goofy, brutal. I love his laugh.

I love that the doge lets fat characters be super powerful in his games too, it's so rare and makes me feel good. They get to be humorous, or fail, without it feeling the same way most fat ppl are written when they are humorous or fail, yaknow? They get to have depth and a whole realm of emotions, or flat out secrecy, instead of the same tropes the same way. They're actually characters.

Jevil being more aware than most people, and suffering mentally for it, is so interesting and tragic, I can see why so many ppl want him and Spamton to interact. They are polar opposites, bound to be good foils, even if they hate each other, but have also gone through a lot of the same existential dread, they could probably yell and laugh and talk for hours, until they destroy wherever their at with their antics.

I think I lean a bit more toward wanting to see his and Seam's dynamic though, a quiet wisdom to balance out his chaotic smarts. I hope they were besties, and get to be besties again.

I want to see the rest of Jevil, when he's not just drunk on power or being vague, his other emotions, his hobbies, him forced to be mundane for a little while, forced to let ppl get to know him, or at least see what that was like in the past. I think it would drive him crazy at first, but he'd find subtle ways to enact chaos within a community without getting arrested. Leave riddles on doorknobs, solve equations without credit or explanation, put jam in shoes if he's feeling especially giggly. We barely know him, but I love him, your honor.

Well.

Actually I haven't been able to beat the jerk yet, so -10/10 actually, he's a bully and a jerk and I hope he steps on a Lego! Jevil cancelled!!!!!!

Idk why I love the King so much, but I do. He's such a satisfying villain. Really puts our teams loyalties in each other and to their morals to the test, and has great emotional tension in his boss fight. His fight is just really fun imho, not too hard, not too easy, nice visually. He's got a good design, good dialogue, and is delightfully nasty.

And his son is babey!!!! He's so sweet I could get diabetes, the funniest dialogue, and just an oddball. I like that he's not random, just weird, like Tilly from Big City Greens, or Greg from Over the Garden Wall. He makes the strangest decisions, but they have a clear line of logic in his optimistic lil kid brain. Realistic written kid in general.

And his dynamic with Susie is one of the best parts of the game!!!! Susie is so lonely and insecure, a kind, goofy little brother is what she's always needed, especially someone who shares her interests in things like mud pies and weapons and "badness". She's just what he needed too, a good influence, someone who values him and isn't just there out of obligation or pity. Someone who loves him, in person. I hope with Lancer's dad not intimidating possible friends away, he gets to make a little rowdy crew to keep him company when officials are busy.

Spamton, Spamton, Spamton. What can I say about tumbley's current funky lil dude that someone else hasn't said better? He's a hilarious, layered, confusing little tragedy. The change from laughter to sorrow can come so quick. His life is hell. His life is *on sale, 1.99 or no money back!!!!!!* He knows so much but cannot tell. I'm not up to date on theories, but if his sadness is Gaster originated, I'm gonna throw hands!! Holy, holey hands!!! Literally, metaphorically, spiritually, technically, *Finally, the vacay you've always dreamed of!!!!* Let the little rat alone! Or give him something less cryptic if ur gonna help and leave, dangit!! Stars, I hope we can bring him back.

[reverssentiment]

Deltarune is definitely saying something about escapism — the first Dark World was all kids’ toys and had a definite sub-theme of nostalgia, in this case for Undertale, and of course Cyber World was a phantasmagoria of distractions and new experiences — but I’m not convinced it’s a straightforward condemnation.

Susie’s emotional issues manifested in the Toy World, as Lancer (the mischievous nominal villain who really just wants to have fun) and King (an abusive father whose obsessive hatred of those who genuinely betrayed him drives him to hurt even those who should be closest to him — hint hint at Susie’s clearly awful home life).

Likewise, Noelle and Berdly got Queen as avatar of their issues, an adult who praises (and constantly tries to control) Noelle but barely seems to know Berdly’s name despite everything he does to impress her, plus the manifestation of the DECEMBER spelling bee, mice, etc. The Dark Worlds are fun but they’re clearly geared to teach moral/emotional lessons and encourage growth.

...so how have Kris’s issues manifested in the Dark Worlds so far? Well, there’s a nihilist murderer in serious denial and a deranged scammer in serious denial, both of whom are dangerous to be around, and they’re both fixated on freedom as the motive behind their actions. Kris’s issues aren’t getting sympathetic representation or air time.

In fact the Dark World appears to be arguing against their thesis of freedom — see Ralsei, a goat-monster Darkner who’s Kris’s approximate height and has their red horns, but he’s courteous, servile and absolutely obedient to his prophesied role (in theory, at least), and universally regarded as fluffy and lovable (he’s clearly designed to be loved, even).

...but these images are being drawn their feelings, not ours. Or maybe they’re a bit of a hybrid on some level — our thesis here (i.e. Ralsei) is an Asriel callback, the representation of our nostalgia, but he’s also Kris’s brother’s image and Kris’s mother’s image and what Kris felt they were supposed to be. And the secret bosses are partly ours (Spamton EX as a hybridization or bastardization of our love for Mettaton, Jevil as an introduction of the concept) and partly all-new original Kris content (Spamton cares about Kris qua Kris and has no precedent as a crooked salesman, and Jevil... well, again, Jevil introduces the concept), theirs.

So, why? Why do they get tutelage through insults and punishments and comparisons to impossible standards, strapped to their chair via our intrusion and denied the chance to blink, where everyone else just gets to have a straightforwardly nice time growing and learning life lessons? Whose playground is this, Kris’s or ours?

(Might compare this to @dead-dove-moment‘s zombie Kris theory — in addressing the urgency of Kris’s situation, we and our Dark World have shifted didactic gears in a way that does more harm than good — “teaching” them, over and over, when just giving them a decent friend group and letting them explore it on their own would do so much more for them.)

[w1tchybusiness]

Deltarune Theory:

I think the secret bosses are all obviously going to explore themes of freedom, but I also think each one is going to be themed around a stage of grief. We’ve seen two already, Jevil representing Denial (I’ll touch on that in a bit) and Spamton representing Bargaining (obvious) meaning that if I’m right the next boss will be anger or depression (Bargaining and Anger will have been swapped, or the order entirely thrown, but this is just for fun.) This might have something to do with accepting the fact that nothing matters, with accepting that you are not free, which is something we see Kris AND our secret bosses struggle with, including struggling with the specific phase that they happen to represent. Jevil rebels and induces chaos to deny his lack of ability to change anything, while Kris does the same thing by removing their soul and acting uninhibited. Spamton obviously bargains, hoping that through deals and business he can buy or bargain his way out of the societal strings that control him, while Kris makes a Fountain of their own will to try and appease you or themselves.

Now onto the Jevil Denial thing, cause it’s not a theory I see often and I believe it’s worth explaining.

Jevil is not just insane and chaos-driven, everything he does is driven by a denial of his lack of ability to change anything. Before he was locked up, he clearly did something rash and punishing in denial of the world/law/forces of nature, whatever, to deserve being locked up. During your interaction with him, he denies being imprisoned at all, claiming you are the ones who need to be let outside (outside being into his cell.) His attitude (“I can do anything,” “Let yourselves outside,” etc.) denies that he is in fact incapable of changing anything, that he does not matter, that he’s tied down. He even denies hurting people, even hurting you, by framing his behaviors as games. Jevil is not just insane. He is in denial.

Spamton is Bargaining. A salesman who made a deal with the devil and was made aware of the strings society pulls on him, and made his way to the top, only to be dropped like nothing when he tried to defy his strings. Now at the bottom, he desperately wants to be free of these strings, of the fact that his decisions are irrelevant, that the strings decide in the end, that nothing he does matters. He does this through bargaining, deals, selling any crap he can find to idiots who will buy it, and making desperate attempts at getting people to help him become strong enough that HIS decisions matter over the strings that puppet him.

To conclude: the deltarune secret bosses, on top of being about freedom, I suspect will be themed around the five stages of grief, likely grieving the fact that you can never truly be free of whatever drives you, and that you don’t matter.

[the-golden-ghost]

spamton for the blorbo blingus ? or jevil whoever you prefer

APOLOGIES FOR TAKING LIKE A WEEK TO DO THIS turns out transcribing is Difficult. Putting the original meme at the bottom for reference.

Also, picking Spamton cause someone else asked about Jevil!

His Shitfucked Priorities:

Food: 4/5 due to food insecurity. He rarely lets on about it though

Sleep: 1/5 he doesn't do this

Sex: 3/5 I mean he's definitely horny but I think his desire to SELL sex is probably higher than his actual sex drive

Pals: 0/5 friends?who needs 'em

Love: He'll SAY it's 0/5 again but it's actually like 4/5

War: 10/5

Kill: 11/5 how do you do capital numbers

Crying: 10/5

Minecraft Skills:

(Disclaimer: I've never mined a craft and I don't know anything about it other than there's blocks and Endermen)

Well he definitely Grinds, Mods, and has Bad Internet. Idk what a cracked account is but it sounds like him

PVP: 4/5

PVE: 1/5

Redstone: 5/5

Building: 0/5

Parkour: 1/5

Speedrunning: 2/5

Fun Facts:

His animal crossing personality: Cranky

Number of Animatics In My Head For Them: None because I can't find any Spamton Songs :( I don't listen to the right kinds of music

Hours Sleep They Get Daily: He gets two. A week

Kill Count: I want to be funny and say it's high but actually I think it's more fitting for it to be low. Not cause he's NOT the murder type but because he's so ineffective and irrelevant to the narrative. Even in Snowgrave we would have done all that even if he weren't there, he TRIED to be relevant and an Evil Mass Murderer but he wasn't really. He's just a pathetic little puppet!

This v That

Hot v Lukewarm: Oh he THINKS he's hot shit but he's the most lukewarm bowl of tap water you've ever laid eyes upon

Sunshine v Moon: Sunshine of course :) his motif

Distant v In Your Face: If he's NOT in your face every second of every day assume he's dead

Crewmate v Imposter: Imposter but not very well

Edible v Poisonous: If you so much as get a whiff of him you will Die

Gamer v Old Man: The oldest

Lives in a Tree v Money Bags: Okay again he will tell you he's loaded but he lives in the trash in canon so

Fruit v Meaty: Meat. Rancid though

Intelligent v Braindead: He THINKS he's people-smart (he's not) but he does have survival skills, admittedly

Saltine v Ghost Pepper: Ghost pepper and he'll harm you

The Checkmarks:

Puppet

Nagging Fears

Dead

No Parents

Hated By All

Haunted

NEEDS therapy

Will never get therapy

20 exes

Marketable

Broken beyond repair

Kills to survive AND thrive!

[pyreo]

deltarune megapost

I wanted to make a Deltarune post about the lore and the things that aren’t  obvious. And once I do that I wanna focus on why Mettaton is incredibly important to this setting

And also why he poses a problem

Why did Toriel and Asgore get divorced?

Without the setting of Undertale, Asgore and Toriel’s marriage still broke up after they had Asriel. There needs to be a reason though. In UT it was Asgore’s ‘worst of both worlds’ decision regarding killing anybody that fell from the human world, including children. We saw how close they were before this happened. Only something deep and serious caused that rift. In Deltarune, what on earth did Asgore do?

What happened to Dess?

Mentioned a handful of times by Noelle, Dess was her older sister and is mentioned In Undertale.... in that Xbox exclusing casino thing. The way Noelle talks about her, the conspicuous way Noelle gets locked out of her big house - it implies Dess is gone or deceased. Berdly recalls a spelling bee when he and Noelle were younger where she, despite being smarter than him, misspelled ‘December’, allowing him to win.

In the two-player spelling puzzle, it also spells out ‘December’ as Noelle recalls the past and her silhouette regresses to a child while she does so. Being distracted by her sister’s disappearance, rather than pure shyness, could account for her misspelling her name on stage, and it clearly left a big psychological mark for her to have this visual regression in the Dark World.

However, there’s a graveyard in Hometown with no Dess. I heard another theory that she has been missing for years, because where each character’s personal room is made by Queen to reflect their tastes via their search results, Noelle has a calendar where every day is December 25th. This could imply that Noelle continually searches the internet for ‘December Holiday’, her sister’s name, to see if there are clues to her disappearance, but of course the only result you would get is the date of Christmas.

Who is the Knight?

It’s now implied to be Kris, who has been forcibly removing the player’s influence to act on their own. By all accounts the Knight is the game’s main antagonist. Spade King and Queen both mention the Knight as someone who influenced their position - they brought Spade King to absolute power, and showed Queen that creation of new worlds was possible.

We’re led to believe that Kris was doing this, because they’ve been acting outside of the player’s control. Eating the entire pie between chapter 1 and 2 might have been a red herring to cover that they also went to the library and used that knife to slash open a dark fountain there.

However. This has issues. How would they even manage to shuffle slowly all the way to the library and get in the computer lab? The Knight is also the one creating the hidden bosses. They talked to Jevil until he realised he was in a game and he lost his mind; they ruined Spamton’s life by elevating him to success and then crushing him. Whatever the Knight is doing seems to be deliberately planned with key players in mind.

Kris opening the fountain at home at the end of ch.2 can be explained in that you just figured out in Cyber World that anyone determined enough can do this, and so, Kris decided to. So a better question might even be...

What does Kris want?

We have no idea. They are capable of removing the SOUL, ‘us’, temporarily, and putting things in motion we cannot influence. But they also keep putting us back in control afterward. This is hinted at right when ch.2 starts, where if you inspect the cage in Kris’s bedroom they threw us into, the description says it’s inescapable. Meaning Kris came back and took us out, willingly.

They allow us to pilot them through the game. Why? Because they cannot live without the SOUL for long for some reason? Because they’re bad at bullet hell? Why did they slash Toriel’s tyres before opening the fountain, making sure nobody could drive away?? Why did they specifically open the door?

You can find out details about Kris through the creepy way you interact with the townsfolk, who think you are Kris. They play the piano at the hospital waiting room - better than you. They used to go to church just to get the special church juice. It’s all normal, relatable things, not like someone who’s trying to plunge the world into darkness. Judging by their search history portrayed in their Queen’s castle room, they really want to see their brother again. However the castle has a room based on Asriel’s search history too, and Kris (not you) closes their eyes and won’t look at it.

What is Ralsei?

His name is an anagram of Asriel. Is he an extension of Asriel? The slightly flirtier dialogue in ch.2 would point to no. Is he an extension of Kris themselves, given the link between Kris’s childhood habit of wearing a headband with red horns on it, to pretend to be a monster like their family?

Ralsei knows exactly where the Dark World in the school is located, and unlike regular Darkners, knows the world is folded up inside the ‘real world’. There’s a certain whiplash to Ralsei telling you to hop out of his reality into yours and go down the hallway to retrieve all the board game items.

How does he jump from one Dark World to another, without assistance? How does he not get petrified like Lancer and Rouxls? Is this a power level thing because he’s a prince or something else? We definitely do not know enough about Ralsei.

He also says this incredibly suspicious thing after you spare Spamton NEO. Susie was also curious but accepts that maybe it ‘didn’t mean anything’, which is a sure tell that these optional bosses do mean something.

Someone is orchestrating what’s happening, opening fountains, manipulating the rulers, and influencing NPCs to become the optional bosses. Why? I suspect Ralsei for both knowing too much, and pretending something doesn’t matter when it clearly does. Until Asriel actually comes home from college I’m going to suspect he’s involved in this too.

How much does Seam know?

Seam on the other hand knows a lot about what’s going on but is openly withholding information while helping you. He’s nihilistic. He says things like:

One day soon... You too, will begin to realize the futility of your actions. Ha ha ha... At that time, feel free to come back here. I'll make you tea... And we can toast... to the end of the world!

Either this ‘end of the world’ is a reference to The Roaring, where opening too many dark fountains dooms the Dark World and the real one... or, I can’t get out of my head the idea that Deltarune takes place in a fake, or weird reconstruction of Undertale where things don’t match up, and eventually it will have to disappear. After all, powers of determination and creating and manipulating universes are Undertale’s basic bread and butter. How can we look at an Alternate Universe containing the characters we already know and not suspect that? Seam also uses Gaster’s key words, ‘darker, yet darker’, seemingly to clue us in that he’s not off track here.

Why haven’t we seen Papyrus?

This is a bright neon flashing ‘something’s not right’ sign. It’s not like Papyrus’s voice actor was too busy or anything. His absence is noticable and for a reason. Nice of Sans to promise we could meet him despite being aware we’re piloting a child’s body around, though, even if he didn’t follow through.

What locations in town could be used for dark fountains in the next 4 chapters?

If the sequence continues, we have chapter 1 in the school games room, chapter 2 in a computer lab, and chapter 3 in front of Kris’s television, where the aesthetic of each setting influences the world, characters, and enemies in the Dark World created there. Future possibilities include the church, the hospital, sans’s grocery store, Noelle’s house, and the closed bunker.

What the hell’s in the closed bunker

This one’s too obvious, honestly. I think it’ll open for no reason in chapter 7 and a little white dog will bounce out and steal one of your key items and nothing else happens.

Why does Asgore have these

Unlike the bunker feeling like a joke teaser, I gotta believe this is foreshadowing something weird. For example, what does opening a dark fountain in here with the seven flowers do? Does it just take you into Undertale?

Each chapter will have a hidden boss with a ‘soul mode’ from Undertale

Chapter 1 let you stay red, but I think each subsequent chapter is going to change your soul mode to one of the seven colours and design the encounter around that. Purple, yellow, green and blue were used in Undertale, leaving the light blue and orange modes yet to be revealed.

How does Spamton emulate Mettaton Neo’s name, body, and incorporate his battle theme, and the ‘Dummy!’ theme, with no actual connection between them ingame?

This is a really fun one that’s explained over in this post here. Swatch is the Dark World creation from the paint program on the library computers, so he’s able to explain that a Lightner made the robot body decaying in the castle basement that way.

Mettaton went to the library and drew his ideal form, Mettaton NEO, in MS Paint, and the Dark World formed that into a puppet body which Spamton was able to hijack temporarily. So by doing that Spamton was able to channel Mettaton’s appearance, attacks, music, and SOUL mode for the fight.

This might mean that the future hidden bosses, each with their own SOUL mode, might be based on the associated character for that mode (Muffet, Undyne, and Sans or Papyrus), and the boss will take on some aspect of them from their world to leech their fight mechanics.

The Problem With Mettaton

We don’t exactly know what Deltarune is about. It’s an alternate universe where the characters from Undertale already live on the surface, have completely normal lives, but diverge from the storyline of Undertale and, crucially, have not lived through the changes Frisk brought to their lives.

Remember how Undertale had a dozen different ending routes depending on who you befriended? The constant reinforcement in Undertale was that your choices mattered. Through Frisk, you chose to bring Alphys closure about her mistakes, you chose to befriend papyrus instead of attacking him, you chose to help Alphys and Undyne realise their feelings for each other and it’s only doing that that leads to the golden ending and escape to the surface.

Deltarune is the opposite, your choices do not matter. The only thing you can do to force the route of the game to change is to force Noelle into a No Mercy run, which is indirect, and also, a total desperation to mess with an otherwise set course. This version of the characters have not been helped by Frisk - Undyne and Alphys are not together, Papyrus has no friends, Asgore cannot get over himself, and they’re clearly the worse for it, but potentially, you COULD still do these things. In fact it’s hinted that you already are.

But there’s Mettaton.

He’s still a ghost and does not leave his house. In Frisk’s world, Gaster deleted himself, promoting Alphys to royal scientist by bluffing with Mettaton, and she then build him his ideal body. In Kris’s world... Alphys is a school teacher. There’s no barrier to break, no reason to experiment on souls, no Flowey mistake, and no body for Mettaton.

It was sad in Ch.1, but now with the Spamton NEO fight in ch.2, it’s unmissable. Mettaton wants that body and he cannot get it. Alphys in this universe is not going to leave her teaching job and suddenly be able to build a robot. Mettaton is just... screwed out of his happy ending and cannot get it.

So what resolution could this have? If it wasn’t for Mettaton I might believe in the vaildity of Deltarune and Hometown. But. How can you doom this character? If Undertale was the only way Mettaton could be befriended, then Undertale is Primary Universe A and Seam is right - the world of Deltarune is doomed as some kind of aberration. It all relies on how this gets explained in the future, but the core mystery of Deltarune is how exactly this universe intersects with Undertale and whether one is an offshoot of the other. How the Dark World links into that is another complication. But even as we get more fun characters and neat stuff in the Dark Worlds, let’s not forget we have absolutely no idea why Undertale’s characters are living here with no mention of underground or why there are no other humans beside Kris.

[bonetrousled]

i've literally been thinking that same stuff about papyrus and it's driving me bonkers crazy

IKRIKRIKR like. he’s legitimately the ONLY character out of the main cast who doesn’t really get any sort of resolution.

true pacifist? asgore and undyne succeed in bringing the monsters to the surface, asgore also reconciles w himself over the human souls and acknowledges what he did was wrong + undyne finds strength in gentleness and treating perceived “enemies” w kindness. toriel gets herself out of the ruins and out of hiding and is ready to move on and forgive herself concerning her kids. sans gets to relax knowing that he’s out of the underground n can see the stars. mtt finds comfort in being monsterkind’s idol and performs onstage. alphys forgives herself and lets the amalgamates go back home to their families

papyrus?? doesn’t get to join the guard, since it’s over. he gets to be the ambassador but only if you aren’t, and it wasn’t even really one of his main goals to begin with. you could argue that he hoped to be able to ride in a car but it’s not really a concrete, marked change and growth in character in comparison to everyone else. he has friends now i guess but he was already friends w undyne.

we never get to see any of his goals and aspirations beyond popularity + the guard (plus his insistence on these could b another link to the two other allcaps bitches?? jevil and spamton have their own “i wants” that they repeat, ex chaos chaos, big shot. points at papyrus “POPULAR, POPULAR, POPULAR!” raises eyebrow) and i think it’s Intentional bc we all know papyrus is a lying little miscreant when it comes to letting people know how he feels. the only time we see him ever in true pain is when flowey grabs him + the only time we see him truly upset is in the king papyrus ending and even Then he’s still covering it up until sans gets off the phone . i feel insane i didn’t mean to type this much but GHEGERHGRGR

[skyllion-uwu]

Random headcanons I keep meaning to post

-Humans in Undertale and Deltarune just have red eyes. Think about it: Kris has red eyes. Chara has kind of reddish-brown eyes. We never see Frisk's eyes (except for when they're possessed by Chara in a corrupted true mercy ending, which are..... red). Therefore, having red eyes is perfectly normal in the Undertale/Deltarune universe

-In a perfect world where Spamton didn't die and becomes friends with Kris, he reluctantly starts letting them sell to him. However, he buys things at a ridiculously low price unless it's some random shiny thing in which case he will fist over hundreds of kromer for a piece of glass from a bottle or a broken pop tab.

-Jevil listens to hyperpop

-Jevil and Spamton are divorced but also Jevil has no idea who Spamton is. He finally recognizes him as the random guy he had a drive-in wedding with for tax fraud reasons. Also they have an enemies to friend arc